FSVP Course Proposal: Alternative Photographic Processes Proposed by: Adrienne Azhderian-Kelly, Dept. of Art and Art History 1. Course number: 219 2. Course title: Alternative Photographic Processes 3. Catalog Description: In this course students will explore historical and experimental film photography in order to achieve a working knowledge of various darkroom methods and processing techniques. Students will gain an understanding of photography as art through creation and interpretation. 4. Prerequisites: None 5. Units: 1 6. Estimate of Student Enrollment: 16 7. By whom and when the course will be offered: This course will be taught by Adrienne Azhderian-Kelly. One or two sections will be offered each semester. 8. Staffing Implications: N/A 9. Adequacy of library, technology and other resources: Our photography darkroom in the Modlin center for the Arts, Room V-210 will be used and no additional equipment will be required. Our library will be used for visual resources and the study of photography history. Our library collection of books on history of photography, photographic technologies and general art history and theory is well developed, and continues to grow.
10. Contact Persons: Tanja Softic Rationale: This course will serve primarily as an FSVP course for non-majors, however, it will be an excellent introduction to film, darkroom and alternative photography for our art and art history majors as well. This darkroom photography class will teach through various projects the basic elements of design, positive and negative space, and compositional elements. Students will study photographic artists and many different alternative techniques including solarization, pinhole photography, and other darkroom manipulations. Each project will close with a critique, stimulating the exchange of ideas and helping students to engage in the communication of interpretation for creative self-expression though art. How does this course fulfill the requirements for a Field of Study: Visual and Performing Arts course? Students in this class are going to engage in practical, creative activities in the studio and produce a body of work in alternative photographic techniques. They will also write brief papers and exhibition reports, conduct library research and visit exhibitions, professional artist studios and critique each other s work. Through the studio work and through critiques, students will learn to use design elements and compositional strategies. Thus, the class will strike a balance between practical, hands-on creative activity and historical and theoretical introduction to this artistic medium. Alternative Photographic Processes Spring 2012 Tues. Thurs. 12-2pm Instructor- Adrienne Azhderian-Kelly
E-mail Adrienne@azkphoto.com In this course you will learn: 1. How to create and use a pinhole camera to take photographs that you and others will find interesting. You will achieve a working knowledge of various darkroom processing techniques. 2. How to use a darkroom and enlarger. 3. How to use photography as an artist, combining the theoretical and practical knowledge applicable to all visual arts, as well as medium-specific technical knowledge, to produce original body of work in this medium. 4. How to look at and analyze photographic images, whether yours, your classmates or by historical and contemporary artists. This will involve careful analysis and discussion of your fellow student s work, slide presentations and discussions of selected artists work, museum visits, library research assignments on artists working in alternative photographic media today and brief writing assignments. All of these activities are designed to encourage and develop ability to speak articulately about your work and ground your ideas in the greater context of photographic and art theory and contemporary practice in the medium. 5. How photographs communicate as works of art, using both design elements ( line, shape, form, value, texture, color) and compositional strategies as well as documentary aspects of the medium. The class time will involve slide lectures, technical demonstrations, practicum sessions and museum visits. Expect to work, on average, six hours per week, in addition to class time in order to satisfy requirements for the class. REQUIREMENTS: ATTENDANCE- Attendance is critical for success in this course. If a class is missed, it is up to the student to find out what was missed and make up the work. After four unexcused absences your grade will be lowered one letter. After five un-excused absences, it is advised that the student withdraw from the course. Otherwise a failing grade will be given. Conflicting work schedule is not an excused absence and a doctor s note is required for illness. Work must be handed in on the day it is due and late work without a proper documented excuse will be lowered one letter grade.
MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED: 1. Supplies to make your pinhole camera A box or container with a tightly sealed removable lid. 2. Photo paper and film as needed 2-25 packs 8x10 or larger, pearl surface is best 3. 3-ring binder with 8x10 size clear plastic pages to keep work 4. Old Towel 5. Things you might use for photograms and solarization : Leaves, seeds, flowers, tools, keys, fabric (including lace), glass (especially textured glass), crumpled up tissue paper, cutouts that you have made yourself, negative strips, toys, your hand, marbles, in other words anything with an interesting shape. You can make a "self portrait personal photogram" using objects that say something about you. You can use printed material like photographs from magazines but keep in mind that any text or pictures on the back of the image will show through also. You may use your own drawings on Acetate (clear plastic) or rice paper. Here is a small list of photographic supply dealers (there are too many to list them all, but here are a few I use frequently) and by calling and making a request, most will mail you a free catalog. Calumet Photographic 1-888-280-3686 (film, paper, cameras and related equipment) B&H 1-800-947-7785 (film, paper, cameras and related equipment) Light Impressions 1-800-828-6216 (Archival supplies, plastic film sleeves, mat cutters, mat boards) ASSIGNMENTS: 1. Photograms 4-8x10 s due A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a photo-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The result is a negative shadow image varying in tone, depending on the transparency of the objects used. Areas of the paper that have received no light appear white; those exposed through transparent or semi-transparent objects appear in varying grey tones. Artist we will study: Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
http://www.geh.org/fm/amico99/htmlsrc2/moholy_sld00001.html 2. Solarization 4-8x10 s due Sabatier effect, the tone reversal of an image, partial or complete, is produced when an exposed photographic emulsion is briefly re-exposed to white light during development. Also known as solarization (also known as Rayograph). Artist we will study: Man Ray http://www.geh.org/amico2000/htmlsrc/index.html Artist we will study: Wynn Bullock http://www.wynnbullockphotography.com/featured/2011-03/index.html 3. Alternative developer application 4 8x10 s due 4. Cyanotype 2 8x12 s due Invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842, the cyanotype was the first successful non-silver photographic printing process. We will use sunlight and water to achieve these images. Bring a selection of organic materials to generate these images leaves, pine cones, flowers (dried or live) grasses etc. We will visit Laura Robins Gallery. 5. Pinhole Photogrphy Construct and use Pinhole Cameras. *Ten final prints (8x10) or larger) from successful exposures Pinhole photography is lensless photography. A tiny hole replaces the lens. Light passes through the hole; an image is formed in the camera. Pinhole images are softer or less sharp than pictures made with a lens. The images have nearly infinite depth of field. Various artists will be studied. Your pinhole project will consist of a series of 10 images (8x10 or larger) your pinhole camera and/or using one or more of the techniques you have learned to create a series of images that work together to present your chosen topic/concept. A written proposal will be due to outline your final project s execution and concept. CLASS SCHEDULE Jan. 17- Intro to class, order supplies Jan. 19- Lecture Jan. 24- Photograms Jan. 26- Photograms
Jan. 31 Critique, Lecture Feb. 2- Solarization Feb. 7- Solarization Feb. 9 Critique, Lecture Feb. 14- Alternative developer application
Feb. 16- Alternative developer application Feb. 21- Critique, Lecture Feb. 23- Cyanotype Feb. 28- Cyanotype Mar. 1 Critique, Lecture Mar. 2-11 Spring Break -NO CLASSES Mar. 13- Begin making pinhole cameras Mar. 15 Finish making pinhole cameras Mar. 20 Begin using pinhole cameras Mar. 22 Pinhole Mar. 27- Pinhole Mar. 29 Pinhole Apr. 3 Pinhole project proposal due Apr. 5- Pinhole project Apr. 10 Pinhole project Apr. 12 Pinhole project Apr. 17 Pinhole project Apr. 19- Pinhole project Apr. 22 Pinhole project Apr. 19 Critique Final Pinhole Projects The American with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires University of Richmond to provide a reasonable accommodation to any individual who advises us of a physical and mental
disability. If you have a physical or mental limitation that requires an accommodation or an academic adjustment, please arrange a meeting with me at your earliest convenience.
Addendum: Dear Walter and Members of the General Education Committee, Thank you for the opportunity to re-submit Adrienne Adhzerian-Kelly's FSVP proposal for the recently approved class, ARTS 219: Alternative Photographic Methods. I would also like to apologize for the incompleteness of the previously submitted proposal and syllabus. From the conversation with Walter, I gathered that the committee did not feel that the syllabus sufficiently addressed one of the goals of the Field of Study: Visual and Performing Arts, namely learning how to "identify and discuss formal elements of an artwork and to recognize traditions and conventions used in a variety of artworks within the discipline studied". I have worked with Adrienne to adjust the language of the syllabus to better reflect the fact that this goal, in fact, will be satisfied in a way very much analog to our other studio courses that satisfy FSVP. This will be the first offering of the course, and Adrienne is, understandably, still working on the details of the class but we feel that the "gist" of the course and the way it fulfills FSVP objective is now in the syllabus, submitted here for your review. That being said, please allow me to say a few words about the methodology of studio classes in general, which is profoundly different from humanities courses, for example. Our work is centered around making art, discussing art and looking at and analyzing art, whether that by students or contemporary or historical artists. Contrary to widespread belief, we cannot make art or talk about it unless we understand and know how to effectively use design elements (shape, space, line, value, color) and compositional principles (proportion, balance, movement, depth, texture etc). Studio work and critique are analytical activities, among other things. Yes, studio work is about expressing oneself, to use a tired phrase, but it cannot happen without the knowledge of concepts and methods of the discipline (photography, in this case, or visual art, speaking more broadly). Similarly, one cannot participate in a critique without the certain level of comfort with vocabulary of the discipline. The critiques are not about stating what we like and what we don't-- they are about developing the ability to place one's own and classmates' work in the context of contemporary practice of the discipline. Any studio teacher in this building will tell you that critique is the part of the class that
they find most demanding, and most gratifying. Studio instruction and practicum, slide presentations and discussions, gallery and museum visits, brief writing assignments and critiques are all interlocked gears in the entire apparatus of understanding how, why and in what kind of contexts the art is made. Elements of studio course (sometimes happening at the same time) include the workshop part ( technical demonstrations and exercises), creative, hands-on individual work and, finally, critiques, slide presentations, discussions of readings and other activities aimed at understanding the historical, theoretical and cultural context of art. All these elements stand in a chicken-and-egg sort of a relationship, and are rather inseparable. I would welcome the opportunity to personally speak to the members of the committee about how we in Visual Arts see thefsvp requirement, and how we go about satisfying its learning objectives. The content of this class is rather analog to what is going on in other FSVP classes in our department. Thank you for taking the time to consider the proposal again, and apologies again for sloppy initial submission. Mea culpa. Tanja Tanja Softic Professor of Art, Chair Department of Art and Art History University of Richmond http://art.richmond.edu/ https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~tsoftic/